There have been innumerable communal riots in India, nearly all of them in States ruled by the Congress at the time of the violence, yet everybody loves to pretend that blood was shed in the name of religion for the first time in Gujarat in 2002 and that the BJP Government headed by Mr Narendra Modi must bear the burden of the cross.

Similarly, nobody remembers the various incidents of Indian Airlines aircraft being hijacked when the Congress was in power at the Centre, the deals that were struck to rescue the hostages, and the compromises that were made at the expense of Indiaâ€™s dignity and honour. But everybody remembers the hijacking of IC 814 and nearly a decade after the incident, many people still hold the BJP-led NDA Government responsible for the â€˜shamefulâ€™ denouement.

The Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to New Delhi, designated IC 814, with 178 passengers and 11 crew members on board, was hijacked on Christmas eve, 1999, a short while after it took-off from Tribhuvan International Airport; by then, the aircraft had entered Indian airspace. Nine years later to the day, with an entire generation coming of age, it would be in order to recall some facts and place others on record.

In 1999 I was serving as an aide to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the PMO, and I still have vivid memories of the tumultuous week between Christmas eve and New Yearâ€™s eve. Mr Vajpayee had gone out of Delhi on an official tour; I had accompanied him along with other officials of the PMO. The hijacking of IC 814 occurred while we were returning to Delhi in one of the two Indian Air Force Boeings which, in those days, were used by the Prime Minister for travel within the country.

Curiously, the initial information about IC 814 being hijacked, of which the IAF was believed to have been aware, was not communicated to the pilot of the Prime Ministerâ€™s aircraft. As a result, Mr Vajpayee and his aides remained unaware of the hijacking till reaching Delhi. This caused some amount of controversy later.

It was not possible for anybody else to have contacted us while we were in midair. Itâ€™s strange but true that the Prime Minister of India would be incommunicado while on a flight because neither the ageing IAF Boeings nor the Air India Jumbos, used for official travel abroad, had satellite phone facilities.

By the time our aircraft landed in Delhi, it was around 7:00 pm, a full hour and 40 minutes since the hijacking of IC 814. After disembarking from the aircraft in the VIP bay of Palam Technical Area, we were surprised to find National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra waiting at the foot of the ladder. He led Mr Vajpayee aside and gave him the news. They got into the Prime Ministerâ€™s car and it sped out of the Technical Area. Some of us followed Mr. Vajpayee to Race Course Road, as was the normal routine.

On our way to the Prime Ministerâ€™s residence, colleagues in the PMO provided us with the basic details. The Kathmandu-Delhi flight had been commandeered by five hijackers (later identified as Ibrahim Athar, resident of Bahawalpur, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Gulshan Iqbal, resident of Karachi, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, resident of Defence Area, Karachi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, resident of Akhtar Colony, Karachi, and Shakir, resident of Sukkur City) at 5:20 pm; there were 189 passengers and crew members on board; and that the aircraft was heading towards Lahore.

At the Prime Ministerâ€™s residence, senior Ministers and Secretaries had already been summoned for an emergency meeting. Mr Mishra left for the crisis control room that had been set up at Rajiv Bhavan. In between meetings, Mr Vajpayee instructed his personal staff to cancel all celebrations planned for December 25, his birthday. The Cabinet Committee on Security met late into the night as our long vigil began.

Meanwhile, we were informed that the pilot of IC 814 had been denied permission to land at Lahore airport. With fuel running low, he was heading for Amritsar. Officials at Raja Sansi Airport were immediately alerted and told to prevent the plane from taking off after it had landed there.

The hijacked plane landed at Amritsar and remained parked on the tarmac for nearly 45 minutes. The hijackers demanded that the aircraft be refuelled. The airport officials ran around like so many headless chickens, totally clueless about what was to be done in a crisis situation.

Desperate calls were made to the officials at Raja Sansi Airport to somehow stall the refuelling and prevent the plane from taking off. The officials just failed to respond with alacrity. At one point, an exasperated Jaswant Singh, if memory serves me right, grabbed the phone and pleaded with an official, â€œJust drive a heavy vehicle, a fuel truck or a road roller or whatever you have, onto the runway and park it there.â€ But all this was to no avail.

The National Security Guards, whose job it is to deal with hostage situations, were alerted immediately after news first came in of IC 814 being hijacked; they were reportedly asked to stand by for any emergency. The Home Ministry was again alerted when it became obvious that after being denied permission to land at Lahore, the pilot was heading towards Amritsar.

Yet, despite IC 814 remaining parked at Amritsar for three-quarters of an hour, the NSG commandos failed to reach the aircraft. There are two versions as to why the NSG didnâ€™t show up: First, they were waiting for an aircraft to ferry them from Delhi to Amritsar; second, they were caught in a traffic jam between Manesar and Delhi airport. The real story was never known!

The hijackers, anticipating commando action, first stabbed a passenger, Rupin Katyal (he had gone to Kathmandu with his newly wedded wife for their honeymoon; had they not extended their stay by a couple of days, they wouldnâ€™t have been on the ill-fated flight) to show that they meant business, and then forced the pilot to take off from Amritsar. With almost empty fuel tanks, the pilot had no other option but to make another attempt to land at Lahore airport. Once again he was denied permission and all the lights, including those on the runway, were switched off. He nonetheless went ahead and landed at Lahore airport, showing remarkable skill and courage.

Mr Jaswant Singh spoke to the Pakistani Foreign Minister and pleaded with him to prevent the aircraft from taking off again. But the Pakistanis would have nothing of it (they wanted to distance themselves from the hijacking so that they could claim later that there was no Pakistan connection) and wanted IC 814 off their soil and out of their airspace as soon as possible. So, they refuelled the aircraft after which the hijackers forced the pilot to head for Dubai.

At Dubai, too, officials were reluctant to allow the aircraft to land. It required all the persuasive skills of Mr Jaswant Singh and our then Ambassador to UAE, Mr KC Singh, to secure landing permission. There was some negotiation with the hijackers through UAE officials and they allowed 13 women and 11 children to disembark. Rupin Katyal had by then bled to death. His body was offloaded. His widow remained a hostage till the end.

On the morning of December 25, the aircraft left Dubai and headed towards Afghanistan. It landed at Kandahar Airport, which had one serviceable runway, a sort of ATC and a couple of shanties. The rest of the airport was in a shambles, without power and water supply, a trophy commemorating the Talibanâ€™s rule.

On Christmas eve, after news of the hijacking broke, there was stunned all-round silence. But by noon on December 25, orchestrated protests outside the Prime Ministerâ€™s residence began, with women beating their chests and tearing their clothes. The crowd swelled by the hour as the day progressed.

Ms Brinda Karat came to commiserate with the relatives of the hostages who were camping outside the main gate of 7, Race Course Road. In fact, she became a regular visitor over the next few days. There was a steady clamour that the Government should pay any price to bring the hostages back home, safe and sound. This continued till December 30.

One evening, the Prime Minister asked his staff to let the families come in so that they could be told about the Governmentâ€™s efforts to secure the hostagesâ€™ release. By then negotiations had begun and Mullah Omar had got into the act through his â€˜Foreign Ministerâ€™, Muttavakil. The hijackers wanted 36 terrorists, held in various Indian jails, to be freed or else they would blow up the aircraft with the hostages.

No senior Minister in the CCS was willing to meet the families. Mr Jaswant Singh volunteered to do so. He asked me to accompany him to the canopy under which the families had gathered. Once there, we were literally mobbed. He tried to explain the situation but was shouted down.

â€œWe want our relatives back. What difference does it make to us what you have to give the hijackers?â€ a man shouted. â€œWe donâ€™t care if you have to give away Kashmir,â€ a woman screamed and others took up the refrain, chanting: â€œKashmir de do, kuchh bhi de do, hamare logon ko ghar wapas lao.â€ Another woman sobbed, â€œMera betaâ€¦ hai mera betaâ€¦â€ and made a great show of fainting of grief.

To his credit, Mr Jaswant Singh made bold to suggest that the Government had to keep the nationâ€™s interest in mind, that we could not be seen to be giving in to the hijackers, or words to that effect, in chaste Hindi. That fetched him abuse and rebuke. â€œBhaand me jaaye desh aur bhaand me jaaye desh ka hit. (To hell with the country and national interest),â€ many in the crowd shouted back. Stumped by the response, Mr Jaswant Singh could merely promise that the Government would do everything possible.

I do not remember the exact date, but sometime during the crisis, Mr Jaswant Singh was asked to hold a Press conference to brief the media. While the briefing was on at the Press Information Bureau hall in Shastri Bhavan, some families of the hostages barged in and started shouting slogans. They were led by one Sanjiv Chibber, who, I was later told, was a â€˜noted surgeonâ€™: He claimed six of his relatives were among the hostages.

Dr Chibber wanted all 36 terrorists named by the hijackers to be released immediately. He reminded everybody in the hall that in the past terrorists had been released from prison to secure the freedom of Ms Rubayya Sayeed, daughter of Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, while he was Home Minister in VP Singhâ€™s Government. â€œWhy canâ€™t you release the terrorists now when our relatives are being held hostage?â€ he demanded. And then we heard the familiar refrain: â€œGive away Kashmir, give them anything they want, we donâ€™t give a damn.â€

On another evening, there was a surprise visitor at the PMO: The widow of Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, whose plane was shot down during the Kargil war. She insisted that she should be taken to meet the relatives of the hostages. At Race Course Road, she spoke to mediapersons and the hostagesâ€™ relatives, explaining why India must not be seen giving in to the hijackers, that it was a question of national honour, and gave her own example of fortitude in the face of adversity.

â€œShe has become a widow, now she wants others to become widows. Who is she to lecture us? Yeh kahan se aayi?â€ someone shouted from the crowd. Others heckled her. The young widow stood her ground, displaying great dignity and courage. As the mood turned increasingly ugly, she had to be led away. Similar appeals were made by others who had lost their sons, husbands and fathers in the Kargil war that summer. Col Virendra Thapar, whose son Lt Vijayant Thapar was martyred in the war, made a fervent appeal for people to stand united against the hijackers. It fell on deaf ears.

The media made out that the overwhelming majority of Indians were with the relatives of the hostages and shared their view that no price was too big to secure the hostagesâ€™ freedom. The Congress kept on slyly insisting, â€œWe are with the Government and will support whatever it does for a resolution of the crisis and to ensure the safety of the hostages. But the Government must explain its failure.â€ Harkishen Singh Surjeet and other Opposition politicians issued similar ambiguous statements.

By December 28, the Governmentâ€™s negotiators had struck a deal with the hijackers: They would free the hostages in exchange of three dreaded terrorists â€” Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar and Ahmed Omar Sheikh â€” facing various charges of terrorism.

The CCS met frequently, several times a day, and discussed the entire process threadbare. The Home Minister, the Defence Minister and the Foreign Minister, apart from the National Security Adviser and the Prime Minister, were present at every meeting. The deal was further fine-tuned, the Home Ministry completed the necessary paper work, and two Indian Airlines aircraft were placed on standby to ferry the terrorists to Kandahar and fetch the hostages.

On December 31, the two aircraft left Delhi airport early in the morning. Mr Jaswant Singh was on board one of them. Did his ministerial colleagues know that he would travel to Kandahar? More important, was the Prime Minister aware of it? The answer is both yes and no.

Mr Jaswant Singh had mentioned his decision to go to Kandahar to personally oversee the release of hostages and to ensure there was no last-minute problem. He was honour-bound to do so, he is believed to have said, since he had promised the relatives of the hostages that no harm would come their way. It is possible that nobody thought he was serious about his plan. It is equally possible that others turned on him when the â€˜popular moodâ€™ and the Congress turned against the Government for its â€˜abject surrenderâ€™.

On New Yearâ€™s eve, the hostages were flown back to Delhi. By New Yearâ€™s day, the Government was under attack for giving in to the hijackersâ€™ demand! Since then, this â€˜shameful surrenderâ€™ is held against the NDA and Mr Jaswant Singh is painted as the villain of the piece.

Could the Kandahar episode have ended any other way? Were an Indian aircraft to be hijacked again, would we respond any differently? Not really. As a nation we do not have the guts to stand up to terrorism. We cannot take hits and suffer casualties. We start counting our dead even before a battle has been won or lost. We make a great show of honouring those who die on the battlefield and lionise brave hearts of history, but we do not want our children to follow in their footsteps.

We are, if truth be told, a nation of cowards who donâ€™t have the courage to admit their weakness but are happy to blame a well-meaning politician who, perhaps, takes his regimental motto of â€˜Izzat aur Iqbalâ€™ rather too seriously.

Storm the aircraft with whatever available forces and kill the terrorists, even if it meant death to many hostages.

In any case, NDA would have been blamed. I personally think that the response should have been swift, like in Beslan or the Nord-Ost siege with zero compromise and zero negotiation with the terrorists. The Russians have shown that they mean business when they claim that they will not bow to the terrorists. The question is, can we Indians afford to have such a nerve?

Moreover, what have we learnt from the IC 814? Fine, that we could not transport commandos from Delhi to Amritsar on time. Did we manage to transport commandos on time during the 26/11 attacks? No. Thus, both NDA and UPA can equally be blamed, in fact UPA slightly more because 26/11 happened after IC 814.

Finally, weren't there any policemen, CRPF or Indian Army units anywhere near Amritsar to storm the aircraft? What is the need to have to bring commandos from Delhi everytime something happens?

In any case, NDA would have been blamed. I personally think that the response should have been swift, like in Beslan or the Nord-Ost siege with zero compromise and zero negotiation with the terrorists. The Russians have shown that they mean business when they claim that they will not bow to the terrorists. The question is, can we Indians afford to have such a nerve?

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We in India do not have the same balls like Russian so a raid like Nord Ost or Beslan is out of question,furthermore back then and even now our special forces are far from reaching the level of Russian ALFA special forces. Finally the average Indian politician whether from Congress or BJP they have no idea on national security or external politics these guys need advisor for any action. I highly doubt that our defence minister AK Anthony has even held a gun in his life yet he is at the head of the MoD so when you have a bureaucrat heading your security this will happen.
In Russia the Internal Security minister is a former general, in the US Robert Gates is a former CIA officer so these guys have atleast experience in what they are doing now.

In Russia they have the ALFA special force which has 700 units one unit in Moscow and one in St Petersburg this unit receive the best gear,funding and are well trained,rested. Now consider the NSG some figures claim they are around 5000 of them on deputation from army mostly they do not have adequate gear to fight siege or hostage situation inspite of all their bravery they lag behind imho.

In INDIA i don't know if its done purposely but since we have limited resources why deploy most of our special forces in Delhi (NSG,GARUD)? Also imho we need to downsize the NSG force to a force of 2000 men with all the available funding etc all these supplemented by each state own SWAT teams. As such NSG will be called in high profile cases while the local swat teams engage notorious criminals etc..

We in India do not have the same balls like Russian so a raid like Nord Ost or Beslan is out of question,furthermore back then and even now our special forces are far from reaching the level of Russian ALFA special forces. Finally the average Indian politician whether from Congress or BJP they have no idea on national security or external politics these guys need advisor for any action. I highly doubt that our defence minister AK Anthony has even held a gun in his life yet he is at the head of the MoD so when you have a bureaucrat heading your security this will happen.
In Russia the Internal Security minister is a former general, in the US Robert Gates is a former CIA officer so these guys have atleast experience in what they are doing now.

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Wrong! There are many people who would have not released the terrorists but they are not in politics in this country. Politicians in India dont have the balls and one of the reasons is that they dont want media outcry because it will cost them votes and the other reason being they are inept corrupt bastards.

Majority of our politicians are uneducated people who have zero grasp on the fundamental issues facing the country both economic and military.

I think NDA did the best that it could. It's purely hypothetical as to what extant releasing the terrorists harmed India, but even the UPA won't press NDA on that one incident, even in anti-terror effectiveness debates.

I don't see what Ultra Pacifist Alliance would have done differently in NDA's position, certainly not a Israeli-styled military rescue mission risking lives of both the hostages and our security forces with zero supply-routes.

I want to highlight the portion that is in red colour. The entire article is worth reading, although there are different versions of the 1985 Beirut Soviet Hostage Crisis.

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The A-Teams

by Shane Mooney
MAXIM - March 2001

In 1974, the USSR formed its own elite unit. They quickly became brutally efficient.
Some like to equate Russian's SPETSNAZ (SPETSialnoye NAZnacheniye, "troops of special purpose") with the Green Berets or Britain's SAS, but anyone even remotely familiar with their Cold War recruitment and training tactics knows that there is no way such intensity would be allowed in the West. In 1974, Yuri Andropov established the stealth military group, SPETSNAZ Group Alpha, to act independently of the Red Army and to carry out any mission - legal or not.

Selection and Training
During the Cold War, Soviets didn't fill out forms asking to join the SPETSNAZ. SPETSNAZ chose them. Men from all walks of life were observed and handpicked for the arduous, long-term service by military superiors.

To this day, most of the recruits training for the secretive unit don't even realize they are prospective SPETSNAZ members until many months, even years, into the process. Notes former SPETSNAZ officer, Vladimir Vasiliev, "Even when you are chosen for this training, no one tells you that it is something special until you get up to a certain level ... but no matter how high up you get, you never get the whole story."

Of all the world's special forces, the SPETSNAZ is perhaps unparalleled in the time it devotes to mental training to toughen and magnify all the senses. Soldiers are blindfolded for hours until they are able to understand the exercises and principles the instructor is teaching without the benefit of sight, or thrown into pitch-black rooms for hours.

The physical training borders on cruel and unusual punishment. "We'd be forced to go through unbearable pain during some of these exercises," says Vasiliev. "The trainers would bend your arm back until you started screaming. Then, as if this wasn't enough, somebody would get a knife and start poking you with it. You were then given the choice of two extremes - having your arm broken or being cut with a knife."

All SPETSNAZ soldiers learn Systema, a Russian martial art many experts consider to be the best technique for knife defense of fighting multiple opponents --- essentially the most complete way to maim and kill. And thanks to inmates of the gulags, the soldiers have an endless supply of opponents to kick, beat, and abuse in the hand-to-hand phase of training.

Unit HighlightsIn 1985, terrorists stormed the Soviet Embassy in Beirut and abducted several Russian officials, demanding that the Soviets force Syria to stop its efforts to drive Palestinians supporting Arafat out of Lebanon.

Then Soviet president Gorbachev was quickly able to get Syria to stop its operation, but the kidnappers were slow in releasing the hostages. The SPETSNAZ quickly went into action, rushing to Beirut and giving the extremists 48 hours to free their people. When the terrorists let the deadline pass, the SPETSNAZ actually kidnapped four of them and sent one of their decapitated heads in a bag to the terrorist chief, promising further unrestrained action. The captives were quickly freed.

Personal Combat Story
"In the mid-80's, a dangerous prisoner in the medical unit of a large city prison seized a female doctor, held a knife to her throat, and began dragging her toward the first set of exit doors. The internal alarm was activated and an emergency call went out to my SPETSNAZ unit. While the murderer made his way through the corridors with his hostage, the unit arrived and one of our men replaced the prison guard on the other side of the exit doors. The criminal yelled to have the doors opened, saying he was prepared to slit the doctor's throat. Our guy was done up to look old, with scruffy hair and thick glasses. He started to whine and complain that it was his first day on the job and he didn't know what to do. Fumbling through his pockets, he took out a gun, held it by two shaking fingers from an outstretched arm, and offered it to the prisoner. Then, in the blink of an eye, the sniffling guard flipped the gun into his [own] hand and blew the guy's head off."

I remember that Beirut incident, and the Official Media Version isn't quite the version I got.

It wasn't the kidnappers that Spetznaz kidnapped, and it wasn't a head -- exactly -- that they sent parcel post.

Spetznaz kidnapped the children, wives and siblings of the kidnappers, then they neutered the son of the chief kidnapper and sent him home to Papa. The Soviets then told the terrorists that their family members would be neutered, crippled, blinded and deafened before being dropped in some random city to fend for themselves, unless the Soviet personnel were returned PDQ.

Wrong! There are many people who would have not released the terrorists but they are not in politics in this country. Politicians in India dont have the balls and one of the reasons is that they dont want media outcry because it will cost them votes and the other reason being they are inept corrupt bastards.

Majority of our politicians are uneducated people who have zero grasp on the fundamental issues facing the country both economic and military.

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Compare your history with that of Russian and you'll get an idea,no need to be ashamed as they say Russian has a broad back, each country has its own culture and way of living in ours its most self delusion that we need peace at all cost.
Back to the Kandahar issue India did not have the military means to perform an israeli style ops there,so if BJP refused the release of Maulana Piggy the terrorist would have killed the hostage would the Indian public absorb that definitely NOT however if you see in Russia Nord-Ost or Beslan they did swallow that pill.

Finally Kandahar is a classic example why not jail terrorist for long periods get the bastard and kill him so that no one can hijack planes to force you free them, hence those liberals who claim terrorist like kasab must not be killed they should just F*** off.

We did not have the military means of mounting an operation to free the hostages in Kandahar. That was 11 years ago and in a foreign country..it still burns. The bloody maoists are holding the collector ON INDIAN SOIL, and yet we stand helpless and inactive. Shame on us.

I think NDA did the best that it could. It's purely hypothetical as to what extant releasing the terrorists harmed India, but even the UPA won't press NDA on that one incident, even in anti-terror effectiveness debates.

I don't see what Ultra Pacifist Alliance would have done differently in NDA's position, certainly not a Israeli-styled military rescue mission risking lives of both the hostages and our security forces with zero supply-routes.

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UPA/Congress has been better in dealing with blackmails and international pressure, its being lead by able and confident people. BJP is like a "Coward drunkard" who gets beaten up by strangers in public places and then takes out his frustration over his family members(read minorities). Several defense experts say that had India crossed over to the other side of the LOC and cut the supply lines, we might have suffered lesser number of causalities during Kargil war. Let us not forget about the mutilation of BSF jawans by BDR.

Back to the topic, NDA could have shown a little backbone during Kandahar episode. NDA could have adopted "no negotiation with terrorists and hostage takers" as a matter of principle even at the cost of popularity. Kandahar has cost us more lives till now than we managed to save during the swap.

UPA/Congress has been better in dealing with blackmails and international pressure, its being lead by able and confident people. BJP is like a "Coward drunkard" who gets beaten up by strangers in public places and then takes out his frustration over his family members(read minorities). Several defense experts say that had India crossed over to the other side of the LOC and cut the supply lines, we might have suffered lesser number of causalities during Kargil war. Let us not forget about the mutilation of BSF jawans by BDR.

Back to the topic, NDA could have shown a little backbone during Kandahar episode. NDA could have adopted "no negotiation with terrorists and hostage takers" as a matter of principle even at the cost of popularity. Kandahar has cost us more lives till now than we managed to save during the swap.

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It's time for us to find out if indeed as you claim "UPA/Congress has been better in dealing with blackmails and international pressure". We have a hostage crisis in Orissa. Let's see what the "brave" UPA does here. Already there's talk of releasing 5 hardcore Naxalites in exchange.

@post 4: the reality is that our NSG is no where in the list of world best Quick reaction force or counter-terrorism force.

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Nobody is saying the contrary the NSG is supposed to be the first anti-terror unit of the country yet its funding seems to be the last concern of Home ministry btw before 26/11 we had previous terror problems and as usual either there is a report or the usual blah blah then all this calm down.

Our babus spend more on building their houses or IPL franchises or take bribe by funding the defence forces. I think, not all the money which was sanctioned for NSG has reached the final stage of building a strong formidable force. Only a least amount of money which was sanctioned would remain to buy the equipments.

we should nt have released the terrorists even if we have decided to release those terrorists, i must say that it should have done in the way that terrorists wont be able to operate in any way after their release, (may be AIDS injection or something) which would have make sure that terrorists (all three) of them wont survive much long after their release.

Last and the most shocking thing, someone in the plane got the video tape of the hijacking on his camera, when the hostages return, instead of taking statements they were send home, no one cared if some one has any info about the terrorists, later on that video was shown on a news channel, owner of the video said no one from Govt has contacted him.

Finally, weren't there any policemen, CRPF or Indian Army units anywhere near Amritsar to storm the aircraft? What is the need to have to bring commandos from Delhi everytime something happens?

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NSG is trained for anti hijack.

The Army and the CRPF are not trained.

Notwithstanding, the Army if called in could have stalled the aircraft from taking off and the civil authorities would have to stall them further by 'negotiating' since they are good at stonewalling issues.

Finally Kandahar is a classic example why not jail terrorist for long periods get the bastard and kill him so that no one can hijack planes to force you free them, hence those liberals who claim terrorist like kasab must not be killed they should just F*** off.

UPA/Congress has been better in dealing with blackmails and international pressure, its being lead by able and confident people. BJP is like a "Coward drunkard" who gets beaten up by strangers in public places and then takes out his frustration over his family members(read minorities). Several defense experts say that had India crossed over to the other side of the LOC and cut the supply lines, we might have suffered lesser number of causalities during Kargil war. Let us not forget about the mutilation of BSF jawans by BDR.

Back to the topic, NDA could have shown a little backbone during Kandahar episode. NDA could have adopted "no negotiation with terrorists and hostage takers" as a matter of principle even at the cost of popularity. Kandahar has cost us more lives till now than we managed to save during the swap.

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I am sure the 'defence experts' who wanted the LC to be crossed were there at Kargil. Cut off the supply lines where? The supplies were all there, because if it were not there, then it would never be there since the Burzil Bai closes from beginning Oct to Jul.

It is easy to say "no negotiation with terrorists and hostage takers" as a matter of principle even at the cost of popularity. It is not popularity, it would be an bigger albatross around the neck for losing a whole lot of citizens because the terrorists would just blow up the aircraft than the one we are debating of letting the terrorists go, but saving the citizens and the aircraft.

Notwithstanding, the Army if called in could have stalled the aircraft from taking off and the civil authorities would have to stall them further by 'negotiating' since they are good at stonewalling issues.

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Ray Sir,

I forgot to mention earlier; correct me if I am wrong, but aren't CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) jawans deployed at airports? I would assume any security force that is deployed at airports must have the training to deal with aeroplane hijack like situations. I just don't like this idea of having to bring commandos from Delhi every time something happens. Similarly, is the RPF (Railway Protection force) trained to deal with hostage taking situations in railway stations and/or trains?